As the dust settled on another Race to Dubai, someone who attended both of our recent Play-Off events posed the question to me whether 2025 was the DP World Tour’s best season to date.
It’s an intriguing question which in some respects is difficult to answer, simply because we’ve had so many memorable years since the Tour was established in 1972.
I have personally worked for the Tour for the past seven seasons, but I have been involved in various capacities since 1999, and I would have to say there is a strong argument in favour of it being the greatest I have witnessed.
We have enjoyed considerable success both on and off the golf course over the past 12 months and the two Play-Off events, consecutive Rolex Series events held here in the Middle East, were the perfect way to bring the curtain down.
Inside the ropes, we were treated to some compelling drama, with both the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the DP World Tour Championship being decided via extra holes – Aaron Rai defeating Tommy Fleetwood in the former, and Matt Fitzpatrick holding off Rory McIlroy in the latter.
Throughout our global schedule in 2025, our members have provided some remarkable entertainment which has truly resonated with our fans.
Our record TV viewership and spectator attendance at our tournaments bear testament to that.
Across the 11 events that comprised our Back 9 and Play-Offs, our average TV viewership increased by 35 per cent on Golf Channel, and 16 per cent on Sky Sports, versus 2024.
More than 500,000 spectators attended these tournaments, and we also registered a significant increase in interest across our platforms, with total video views on our TikTok, YouTube and Instagram accounts up by 34 per cent and engagement across all our social media channels up by 47 per cent.
It was befitting that the finale to our season featured two members of our victorious European Ryder Cup team, both Major Champions, battling it out in front of packed galleries. The play-off between Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy, which followed Rory’s customary box office finish in regulation play, was contested by two top class competitors but it was underpinned by the camaraderie that in so many ways defines our Tour and attracts fans to it.
That camaraderie unquestionably contributed to Team Europe’s incredible victory in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage, which was one of the stand-out sporting events of the year, or indeed any year.
Win In New York
To win away, in New York, was historic, as indeed was Rory’s victory in the Masters Tournament back in April as he became the first European player to complete the Career Grand Slam.
Rory’s victory in the Amgen Irish Open, his national Open, and the sheer wall of noise that accompanied it, was another iconic moment that will live long in the memory. At Jumeirah Golf Estates, it was also evident how much winning a seventh Race to Dubai title meant to Rory.
He now starts the 2026 season at the Crown Australian Open with Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight firmly in his sights – another piece of history that will only add to Rory’s glittering golfing CV.
Ahead of the DP World Tour Championship, we unveiled the Rory McIlroy Award, a new annual honour that Rory will present to the best performing DP World Tour member across the four Major Championships.
The Award recognises Rory’s legacy and the contribution he has made not only to our Tour, but to the game of golf globally.
Its inception was one of several notable announcements we made to coincide with our season finale.
New Partner
We welcomed AWS as new addition to our commercial family, becoming an Official Partner, and confirmed an extension to our UK broadcast agreement with Sky Sports for the DP World Tour and Ryder Cup until the end of 2029.
We also began the week by announcing a long-term extension to our partnership with DP World through to 2035. This is the biggest deal we have done in the history of the European Tour Group and it underlines the strength of the partnership we have with DP World, who have been the title partner of our main Tour since the start of the 2022 season.
Since then, we have worked together to enhance the Tour, taking our global talent around the world to iconic global locations. The DP World India Championship, the penultimate event in our Back 9, was a great example of this.
Introduced for the first time in October at the historic Delhi Golf Club with DP World’s support, we assembled the strongest international field ever to compete in an event in India. That field included 2025 Ryder Cup players Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and Ben Griffin, with Rory becoming the first reigning Masters Champion to tee it up in the country.
As golf’s global Tour, we played 42 tournaments in 26 different countries in 2025, providing a truly international platform for players representing 41 different nationalities to showcase their skill and talent.
Our role as administrators is to ensure that platform is as strong as it can possibly be for our members. With increased attendance, engagement and viewership, combined with strong commercial partnerships, we did that this year and we have strong momentum going into the new season as we look forward with great anticipation to seeing what 2026 brings, both on and off the course.
Tom Phillips
Director Middle East
DP World Tour
